With toothbrushes it is desirable for the bristle cluster to be elastically mounted relative to the edge part with which the toothbrush is guided. In this regard the toothbrush head and the bristle cluster can adapt themselves to the contour of the row of teeth or gingiva being cleaned, and errors in the angle of application may be automatically compensated for and excessive contact pressures can be reduced by yielding. For this purpose it is known for the bristle support carrying the bristle tufts to be elastically mounted. For example, some conventional toothbrush heads include bristle supports which are configured to be elastic in some regions so that different sections of the bristle support can move relative to each other.
This movement may be accomplished by incorporating flexible sections of elastomer in a conventional plate-shaped bristle support so that parts of the bristle cluster separated from the handpiece or the toothbrush neck by such an elastomer section can flex away under the applied cleaning pressure. In general, this can cause a part of the bristle cluster furthest from the toothbrush neck or handpiece to flex away, which in turn can result in difficulty cleaning teeth at the hard-to-reach areas of the oral cavity because the section of the bristle cluster penetrating deepest into the oral cavity always flexes away.
It is therefore desirable to provide an improved toothbrush head and an improved toothbrush of which prevents the disadvantages of the conventional toothbrushes while maintaining a pleasant mouth feel for consumers.